By George Jacobi
In Fall of 2022 I watched in awe as two ordinary guys moved a rock that weighed maybe a ton. It took only five minutes with a grip hoist to drag it twenty feet across the Fenton River and lock in place a huge tree trunk that they had already positioned–using physics and muscle instead of fossil-fuel powered excavators and back-hoes. Rather than bellowing engines, I heard bird song over the shouted directions. Remarkable. I’m talking about the stream bank stabilization that Trout Unlimited performed for Joshua’s Trust, to ensure that the Fenton’s erratic behavior wouldn’t erode the foundation of the Gurleyville Grist Mill. As you watch it happen here on sped-up film https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HM5Rp2pg4kk imagine the damage that heavy equipment would have caused to accomplish the task, and how protracted the riparian zone’s recovery.
The Fenton River doesn’t linger on its journey to Mansfield Hollow. Running down a straight steep valley further narrowed by eskers, it takes little time to relax in deeper pools or horseshoe bends. With today’s more often and more violent rainstorms, it’s no wonder the stream wreaks havoc, tearing out century-old bankside trees. In addition to potentially undermining manmade structures, this behavior creates a degraded river, ever shallower and wider.
The condition is detrimental to much aquatic life, which in a cold freestone stream depends on shade for cooling, undercut banks for shelter, deep runs, and silt-free oxygen-rich riffles to support aquatic insects (trout food) and incubate fish eggs. In short, diverse, productive habitats. The Fenton supports a small population of wild Brook Trout and Brown Trout and is a DEEP designated Class 3 Wild Trout Management Area.
The work to rehabilitate a river is a long one but this example of bank improvement has already reinforced the current flow direction away from the Grist Mill. It will be a two-part operation. Part two has been stymied by spring and fall high water and the unavailability of UConn students when the level was appropriate.
Step One, log revetment, is completed. TU National’s Director of Volunteer Engagement Jeff Yates and two helpers cut a fallen tree and carefully set it almost parallel to the bank, in the spot where it would redirect the flow best, as well as repair the shore where the tree had been undercut and toppled by floods. Then, while Joshua’s Trust and TU folks admired the skill, they moved that boulder and two others from the center of the Fenton to anchor it in place.
The following spring, a group of wader-clad, laughing UConn students scooped rocks from the riverbed and used them to fill in the area behind the tree trunk. Lift, toss, splash, over and over. Appreciative Trout Unlimited members (us older guys) grilled hot dogs.
Step Two: brush mattress: Thames Valley TU has collected a batch of dead Christmas trees. This fall (hopefully), students will anchor them tightly and horizontally in the same spot, further slowing the current and thus collecting debris. In the future, each time the river floods, more sediment will be caught in the thick bulwark of branches until it reforms an earth riverbank, and the new riverbank will regrow indigenous flora to help defend it from future flooding. A procedure that started with human effort and engineering will continue as natural horticulture. In the river itself, a deepened channel. On land, a healthy riparian area. One of Trout Unlimited’s bag of tricks to enhance fish habitat, this works and is being used all over the country.
Flooding is inevitable. I think the Gristmill will be here for another century, but rivers have minds of their own and the Fenton is far from healed. We’ve artfully applied a Band-Aid. Working with nature, not against it, is our only long-term solution.
Thank you for sharing an update on the progress!
Beautiful! Even with the winch, still A LOT of work.
Stream stabilization of Fenton Brook to preserve the foundation of Gurleyville Grist Mill is important work. As this article suggests, it is a temporary solution and indicates a much larger problem — climate change. Let me explain.
As a fly fisherman for the past 50 years I have paid more attention than most to rivers. I have also noticed a worrisome trend in coldwater trout streams like Fenton Brook: aquatic insects are disappearing. These small creatures are easy to overlook but they do serve an important purpose. By converting plant life to animal life they are essential building blocks in a food web of fish, birds, amphibians, and other small animals. In short, aquatic insects help stabilize riverine ecosystems.
There are many causes for the decline of aquatic insects. Poor land use practices and rapid population growth are often factors. But the major culprit is climate change with its increased frequency and severity of floods and alternating periods of extreme heat and drought.
Aquatic insects can’t escape such changes. They are scoured away by flood and literally cooked by extreme heat. The Gurleyville Grist Mill foundation is secure for now, but some natural foundations are still eroding.